Dear Editor,
One of the age-old problems of urban planning is how much developers should be charged in levies prior to the start of a development. If they don’t charge a high enough development levee the burden of the uncollected taxes falls on the other taxpayers in the area, therefore, resulting in an undocumented subsidy to the new homeowners.
In this month’s issue of Maclean’s, Mike Holmes has showed the whole country his hand when it comes to the Wind Walk development. He makes it very clear with his own vulgar, arrogant analogy (he made an accusation respecting the size of his opponent’s manhood in words not fit for a national publication) how he does not want to have to pay taxes to the Town of Okotoks. He still maintains he has enough water to sustain the development even though the MD council and the Town have told him he needs to find more water. He has yet to show anyone the province has approved his method of sewage treatment and disposal.
Several people are wondering why the Town is suggesting annexing the land that Wind Walk occupies when they want to maintain a population cap. What choice do they have? Why should Mike Homes and T-6 Urbanists be able to set up a town on the doorstep of Okotoks and then pick and choose what services they would like to use and pay for? This is nothing more than eating off the plates of the Okotoks taxpayers.
The arrogance displayed by Mike Holmes in this article really makes you wonder why he has spent so much effort trying to make it sound like he is trying to help the Town of Okotoks by proposing this development in the area. I know if I were a member of the MD council and read Mike’s analogy of what it takes to get a development approved I would be wondering why I approved Wind Walk.
Maclean’s writes, “Holmes is confident that he will prevail sooner or later. And given his immense popularity, it’s hard to imagine he is wrong.” You have to ask yourself what does popularity have to do with being right? The reality here is that Mike Holmes has been trying to shove his popularity in front of the truth since day one. Mike’s popularity won’t make more water come out of the ground.
Dan Robson
MD of Foothills
